Middletown School District Budget Deficit Could Be As High As $1.2 Million

MIDDLETOWN — — The school district is looking at a budget deficit of between $900,000 and $1.2 million, officials said at Tuesday night's board of education meeting.

Superintendent Patricia Charles said line item deficits include a $175,000 shortfall in cafeteria services, $400,000 for substitute teaching, and $166,929 in tuition costs for students attending magnet schools.

This school year, 70 city students left the district to attend magnet schools, compared with 52 last year, Charles said. Under state law, school districts are required to pay tuition for any of their students attending magnet schools.

"Our deficit is falling into some major areas," Charles said. "It's a very difficult situation to be in."

She said school administrators have been meeting to find ways to curb spending, and said she and board Chairman Eugene Nocera will meet with city officials to discuss ways to address the deficit. Teachers will spend less time participating in district evaluations and assessments to cut down on the amount of time they spend out of the classroom, thus reducing the need for substitute teachers, she said.

Board member Theodore Raczka, chairman of the board's budget committee, said the shortfall is troubling not only for this year, but for the 2013-14 fiscal year as well.

"This is a very significant hole," Raczka said. "Once you plug it, it's also going to be in next year's budget."

Nocera on Tuesday night said he and Charles have had discussions with the city on consolidating services including payroll, information technology, building and grounds and legal services.

"The key to all of this is we think there are efficiencies we can achieve," Charles said. "It's still under discussion, but any way we can be more efficient would be a positive thing."

The common council in May increased the school budget by $1.8 million, or 2.5 percent, to $72.55 million.

Board member Ed McKeon said despite that increase, the district is still trying to catch up with budgets in previous years that had small increases or no increases.

"We have increasing state mandates and we have been underfunded not for one year, but for four of five years," McKeon said. "We cannot allow it to happen for another year. We cannot afford to let the quality of our schools slip."